Keep checking my blog for links to events in comics and children's books, and random interesting things that happen in and around London. But these are my 'official' events!



May 28 & 29 (Sat & Sun): London MCM Expo, ExCel Centre

April 24 (Saturday): St Albans, UniComics Festival, story hour and workshop with the St Alban's Children's Book Group at the University of Hertfordshire



July 1 (Thursday): London, Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators Professional Series, talk with Giles Andreae. Theodore Bullfrog pub, 7pm (Book here)
Giles Andreae is the well-known author of award winning picture books including Rumble in the Jungle, Pants! and Girraffes Can't Dance, as well as Morris the Mankiest Monster. Sarah McIntyre is a SCBWI illustrator who, after completing an MA in Illustration has launched a successful career, with her Vern and Lettuce comic strip, as well as illustrating seveal picture books including Morris the Mankiest Monster. Giles and Sarah will be talking about the author/illustrator relationship. Books will be available for purchase/signing.

August 24 & 25 (Tues & Wed): Edinburgh, Edinburgh Book Festival. Tuesday 11:30am, Wed 10am, children's workshops

Sept 30 (Thurs): Launch of Vern and Lettuce as a book in the DFC Library!

Oct 7: Launch of picture book with Oxford University Press! (Details TBA)

Bath Kids Lit Fest (Date TBA)

Nov 20 (Sat): Leeds Thought Bubble comics festival
Meet the creator of Vern and Lettuce in the DFC Library series. Design your own alien and make comics with Sarah McIntyre and local Leeds writer Gillian Rogerson, the duo behind Scholastic's interplanetary adventure story, You Can't Eat a Princess!. Fun for all ages!

2010

13 Feb: Exeter Comics Expo

13 Feb: London Alternative Press Fair

20 Feb: Telford Midlands MCM Expo

20-28 March: Oxford Literary Festival

2 May: London Zine Symposium

21-23 May: Bristol International Comics & Small Press Expo

27 May-6 June: Hay Festival

August: Oxford Caption comics festival

24 Sept-3 Oct: Dumfriesshire Wigtown Children's Book Festival

November: London Comica festival

18-21 Nov: Leeds Thought Bubble. (Facebook page)

Mar 29, Northamptonshire, Winchester House School

Mar 28, Northamptonshire, Newbottle & Charlton Primary School, Culworth Primary School



March 4, London, MONSTERVILLE Final Party at Discover story centre in Stratford, draw-off with Ed Vere

Feb 27, London, Pop-Up Festival Schools Day, working with local schools in Hoxton

Feb 22, Bedford, Kempston Library Children's Book Festival, working with local schools

Feb 18, London, IMAGINE Festival, South Bank



Jan 4 & 5, Paris, Paris Manga & Sci-Fi Show with Emma Vieceli (creator of Dragon Heir) at Aaltair book stall.


Click here to read the rest of the travel comic!

2011

Sept 13, London, chaired panel with Paul Gravett: Thinking Outside the Box: new publishing opportunities in comics & graphic novels for children & young adults, a joint Society of Authors/ Comica Festival event

Sept 10, London, Lewisham Literary Festival, For Books' Sake panel with Ellen Lindner & Karen McLeod

Sept 9, Dublin, pirate adventures with Maynooth Boys National School and St Brigid’s National School

Sept 8, Dublin, Eason's bookshop Illustrators Evening with Oliver Jeffers & PJ Lynch

Sept 6, London, drew for charity at Klimb Children's Illustration Auction, organised by Garry Parsons

Aug 23 & 24, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Book Festival



Aug 10, Leicester, Leicester Library events



July 4, London Pop Up Festival of Stories, Holborn library

June 4, Birmingham Birmingham Young Readers literary festival

May 30 & 31, Hay-on-Wye Hay-on-Wye Literary Festival

May 28, London, Stratford Discover Centre - MONSTERVILLE Grand Opening!



May 6, Essex Roding Primary School - Scholastic book fair and cutting the ribbon for a the new library

April 16 & 17, Portland, Oregon Stumptown Comics Festival

April 9 & 10, New York City MoCCA Comics Festival

April 3, Oxford, Oxford, Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival

March 12, London, London Comics & Small Press Expo, shared table with The Fleece Station, Goldsmith's University, New Cross

March 5, Surrey Surrey Libraries Children's Book Festival, Comics Jam workshop at Ewell Library and Design-Your-own-Alien workshop at Stoneleigh Library

Feb 9, Bishop's Stortford, Bishop's Stortford Festival of Literature, Two comics workshops and prize ceremony with Giles Andreae and Gillian Rogerson


Giles Andreae & Sarah McIntyre</b>

Jan 28, Battersea, London, Newton Prep school, Wild Railway Adventure!

Jan 25, Chelmsford, Essex Officially opened the Just Imagine storytelling centre with writer Steve Cole and led a joint workshop, Make-a-Monster Mega-Challenge! Write-up and photos here



2010

Nov 26, London Drayton Park School, Islington, Monster comic book workshop

Nov 23, Sheffield Accepted Best Picture Book and Best Overall Book awards at the Sheffield Children's Book Award Ceremony; included library workshop.


Nov 20, Leeds, Thought Bubble comics festival


Nov 13-14, Winchester, SCBWI Winter Conference, panel talks

Nov 10, London, Thornhill Primary School, Islington Monster comic book workshop

Nov 6, Oxford, Oxford Children's Book Group open conference, Oxford University Press: Presentation with writer/illustrator Layn Marlow on Hopping the Gap Between Words and Pictures. Other speakers included writers Philip Pullman & Mary Hoffman.

Oct 29-31 London ExCel Centre, MCM Expo
Fleece Station booth, plus Sat, 30 Oct: DFC Library drawing battle! Contestants: the Etherington Brothers (Monkey Nuts), Neill Cameron (Mo-Bot High) and Sarah McIntyre (Vern and Lettuce)

Oct 26 & 27, Nottingham Game City
Live mural painting in the market square's game station (TV footage here)


Oct 25, London, Foyles Bookshop, Charing Cross Road, Fearfest, Kids made monsters!


Oct 23, London, Crystal Palace Children's Book Festival
Story and drawing fun with the illustrator of Morris the Mankiest Monster and You Can’t Eat a Princess!. For ages 4+ Organised by Alex Milway

Oct 21, London, Stitch-a-Sheep Vern and Lettuce launch party!!!


Oct 17, Cheltenham, The Times Cheltenham Festival of Literature
Aliens and Monsters! Queen's Hotel, 11:30-12:15, ages 4-7
Sarah McIntyre loves monsters and aliens — they feature in many of her books such as Morris the Mankiest Monster and You Can’t Eat a Princess. Listen to stories, join in the action and make your own monster to take home! Come dressed as an alien or monster, too!

Make a Comic with Sarah McIntyre Queen's Hotel, 2-4pm, ages 7-11
Bring your own pen and a lot of gusto for this action-packed comic book making workshop with Sarah McIntyre, the inventor of the Pickle Rye world, home to Lettuce the rabbit and Vern the sheep. Her artwork is laced with silliness and humour; no wonder she's one of the original Fleece Station artists, a collective whose grand title derives from their love of drawing... sheep!

Festival's featured BookIt! illustrator, poster design

Oct 16, Birmingham British International Comics Show, guest: signing Vern and Lettuce

Oct 12-14, Ireland Comics workshops with studio mate Gary Northfield in conjunction with Children's Books Ireland. Visited Ceibridge, Maynooth, Leixlip, Naas, Newbridge, Athy, Trim, and Dunshauglin libraries. Appeared on Elev8 (RTE2's show for young people) in a live half-hour slot.

Oct 8, London James Allen's Preperatory School, Dulwich
Judged the Book Week costume parade and signed copies of Vern and Lettuce


Oct 7-10, London Woolly duo Vern and Derek hit the Alexandra Palace Knitting and Stitching Show

Oct 2, Bath, Bath Kids Lit Fest, Bath Central Library
Making Friends with Aliens! Join Illustrator and comics creator Sarah McIntyre as she introduces you to her alien and monster friends in an action-packed, interactive drawing event! Come and learn Sarah’s secret tips on how to invent funny or scary characters and then make them come alive in your very own book.

Sept 24 & 25, Wigtown, southwest Scotland: Wigtown Book Festival, Vern and Lettuce comics schools events and Hungry Aliens & Manky Monsters festival event

Sept 19, London HyperComics workshop 1:30-3:30, Pump House Gallery, Battersea Park
Masked Adventures in Comics! Participants drew inspiration from the Hypercomic exhibition and Dave McKean's masked characters to design their own story's masked heroes and villains. Getting behind their masks to discover their characters' unique personalities, they used the
Pump House setting to bring them to life in a gripping story. At the end,
everyone came away with their own self-published comic book! Suited to both children and adults.
(More about Hypercomics here)


Sept 1, London Church Street Library, Space Hop Summer Reading Challenge event

Aug 28, Lakeside Waterstone's Aliens Party!, hosted by Sarah and comics creator Marc Ellerby

Aug 24-25: Edinburgh Book Festival
24th, 11:30am - 12:30pm workshop, RBS Tent, Ages 5 - 7: Monsters & Aliens Let Loose!
Tentacles! Googly Eyes! Join the illustrator of You Can't Eat a Princess! and Morris the Mankiest Monster for character design madness.

4:30 - 5:30pm, RBS Tent, ages 5-7 Comics workshop
Programme write-up: Illustrator Sarah McIntyre is master of the Pickle Rye world, the home patch of Lettuce the rabbit and Vern the sheep. Her artwork oozes silliness and humour; no wonder she's one of the original Fleece Station artists, a collective whose grand title derives from their love of drawing... sheep! Her work featured in The Guardian and is now published by DFC - bring your own pen and a lot of gusto for the launch of this new title.

25th, 10 - 11am, RBS Workshop Tent, ages 7-9 Comics Jam with Vern and Lettuce!
1:45-2:45pm, Craigmillar Library, Outreach event


Aug 19: London Victoria Library, Space Hop Summer Reading Challenge event

Aug 12: London Cartoon Museum - Lots of comics & photos
11-1pm (11-14 year-olds) Comics Jam Session: Meet up with other people who love making comics to take part in an interactive comics making session. Learn how creating comics collaboratively can help overcome writer's block, inject your stories with fresh material and send your characters flying off in directions you never could have imagined. See some of Sarah's comics jams and learn how her recent comics jam with a friend got her a book deal with a major comics publisher. Feel free to bring along your questions and your portfolio for critique and feedback.

2-4pm (8-10 year-olds) Comics Jam Session: Just like a musical jam session, comics are great fun to make together with other people. Come design characters and set them flying in directions you never could have predicted with this interactive comics game, which can be played again and again, always with new outcomes. Then pull the ideas together to make your comic, put together your own book and learn how you can self-publish it with a minimum of cost or materials.


Aug 11: Birmingham Children's Reading Partners Roadshow

Aug 9: London Maida Vale Library, Space Hop Summer Reading Challenge event

Aug 6: London Cartoon Museum (8-10 year-olds) 11-1pm : Comics Character Design: Hungry aliens, a manky monster, and a whole host of animals who live in a city tower block have all had starred in Sarah's books and comics. Meet some of Sarah's characters and learn her secret tips on how to create exciting characters that will drive your story forward. Then make your own book!
2-4pm: Comics Space Odyssey: Free-form comic-making drop-in session - all ages

Aug 4: Bedford & Putnoe Space Hop library events

Aug 1: Oxford Caption Comics festival, DFC Library talk with Neill Cameron (Mo-Bot High), interviewed Darryl Cunningham (Psychiatric Tales)

July 29: London You Can't Eat a Princess! Space Hop Summer Reading Challenge event at Paddington Children's Library

July 20-21: Leicester You Can't Eat a Princess! Space Hop Summer Reading Challenge events at St Barnabas, Beaumont Leys and Evington libraries. Plus a hop on Eric the Book Bus!

July 8: London Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators Professional Series, talk with David Fickling. Theodore Bullfrog pub: Publisher David Fickling and Sarah revealed how they took a revolting manuscript that spent 12 years being turned down by 15 editors and refused by 10 publishers to come up with the lovable - and still absolutely disgusting - character that is Morris. As an added bonus, they also discussed the comic book they are releasing together this autumn as part of the DFC Library series, Vern and Lettuce, and explained how strong character development has been essential to making both books come alive.

May 28 & 29: London MCM Expo, ExCel Centre, sharing a table with the rest of the Fleece Station! Read about it and see nutty cosplay photos here!

April 30, May 1: Stratford-upon-Avon Hungry Aliens & Manky Monsters workshops at the Stratford-upon-Avon Festival of Literature and Bridgetown Primary School


April 24: Hatfield: UniComics festival at the University of Hertfordshire

March 27 & 28: Inverness Highlands International Comic Expo (or 'Hi-Ex'). Activity table and workshop with studio mate Gary Northfield. Report and photos here.


March : Leicester schools book festival, part of the city's £1m Whatever It Takes reading campaign to help improve achievement in schools.

March 4&5: London The Discover Centre, Stratford, workshop reports here and here.

Feb 9: Bishop's Stortford, Presentation by Children's Laureate Anthony Browne of the Bishop's Stortford Picture Book Award 2010 for Morris the Mankiest Monster. Photos here and here.


2009
Dec 12: London Reading, signing and crafts session at The Golden Treasury bookshop

Nov 21 (Saturday): Wigtown, Dumfriesshire, Box of Frogs bookshop. Photos and write-up of our 'Make your own Monster' session.

Nov 14 (Saturday): London Panel with Emma Vieceli and John Dunning, chaired by Ariel Kahn. British IBBY/NCRCL MA Conference on the theme GOING GRAPHIC: COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE, Froebel College, Roehampton University.

Nov 7: London Camberwell arts & crafts fair at the Well Community Church hall.

Nov 6: London Little Pencil at the ICA, part of November's Comica Festival. Children watched animations in the cinema, then spent time with me drawing along to my music playlist selection, taking inspiration from the music.

Oct 25: Cambridge Women in Comics Conference, on a panel with Asia Alfasi and Sarah Zaidan. My talk was titled Comics and Picture Books: women bridging the gap.

Oct 24: London MCM Expo. Costumed craziness.

Oct 21: Havering 2 comics workshops with Gary Northfield at South Hornchurch Library and Newton's Primary School.

Oct 17-19: Dublin Children's Book Festival. 4 workshops: at the comics festival, Waterstone's Jervis Street, Eason's O'Connell Street and Central City Library. In conjunction with Irish 24 Hour Comic Day

Oct 10: Cheltenham Literature Festival, panel discussion about kids comics with Garen Ewing (The Rainbow Orchid) and John Dunning (Salem Brownstone)

Oct 3-4: Birmingham British International Comics Show officially launched Morris the Mankiest Monster. Sarah ran a 'Make your own Monster' workshop at her table and interviewed Japanese manga artist Michiru Morikawa. (Lovely review here.)

Aug 15 & 16:  Caption comics festival, Oxford  - Sunday the 16th, 12:30-1:30
Comics and Picture books: crossing the divide
Have the boundaries between comics and picture books shifted in recent years? Sarah McIntyre discussed exciting opportunities she has noticed in crossover works and publisher interest, exploring the potential for comics creators to tap into both industry categories to support themselves and inject their own work with fresh energy.

Also appeared on a panel with Jenni Scott and Shane Chebbo and Sean Azzopardi (seanazz) from 4-5pm on Saturday the 15th.

July 27: Laydeez do Comics, 6:30-8:30pm a presentation of some stuff I was working on, followed by a discussion of The Arrival by Shaun Tan, at The Rag Factory. (Write-up here)

June 19: Institute of Education, University of London. Between the covers': improving literacy through bookmaking; led a seminar with Nikki Gamble.

July 10: UK Literary Association Conference, University of Greenwich. Illustrator panel with David Roberts and Petr Horacek

May 23: London MCM Expo, ExCel Centre. More photos here and here!

April 25: The Crystal Palace Children's Book Festival. DFC comics workshops and exhibition.

April 24: St Bride Library Conference, St Bride Library, Fleet Street, London. Talk with David Fickling,

April 4: Oxford Literary Festival, DFC panel with David Fickling, the Etherington Brothers and John Aggs

March 28: UK Web & Mini Comix Thing, London

Feb 1: Alternative Press Fair, London

Jan 27: Camberwell art college two-hour MA Illustration seminar on making picture books and comics

Jan 24: Zinefest, London

2008
23 Nov: Comica at the ICA, DFC panel

22 Nov: SCBWI conference workshop with Layn Marlow

26 Oct: London MCM Expo, DFC table

28 Sept: Bath Kids Lit Fest, DFC panel

10 Aug: Caption, Oxford, DFC panel

12 July: Cartoon Museum, DFC comics workshop